On @bbcworldservice Heart & Soul, the Director of the Vatican Observatory admits teaching in "Africa" and the interviewer asks if, comparing the majesty of the heavens and the suffering in "Africa", he'd queried his faith. Nothing on querying suffering in Detroit where he's from.
It always fascinates me the space "Africa" occupies in the Western imagination. A paper I once read cited a study finding that many odieros regarded volunteering in "Africa" is the greatest good one can do, and few thought easing suffering in their own countries was as worthy.
I think many buy into the myth of the "civilising mission". Nobodies can turn up in "Africa" and imagine the natives looking up to them like superior beings bringing enlightenment and civilisation. "Africa" where the benefits and privileges of whiteness can be fully realized.
Of course this reverie is divorced from the reality of systemic brutality, thievery and impoverishment imposed by colonisation and sustained till today. To them, miros are uniformly suffering, helpless and ignorant victims who lack the necessary whiteness to save themselves.
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